wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “tls”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “tls”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Zoho Flow – No-Code Workflow Automation shows at wp.org #13 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #1 2

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #2 3

One Click SSL 10K+ · 4.9★ (139) wp.org #3 4

Postie 10K+ · 4.7★ (139) not PHP-current wp.org #4 ↑1 5

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 ↑8 2 too low 6

SMTP Mailer 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7

Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115) wp.org #8 ↓2 9

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #9 ↓1 10

Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #14 ↑5 4 too low 11

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #17 ↓4 6 too low 12

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13

Gmail SMTP 10K+ · 4.1★ (103) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too high 14

WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #24 10 too low 15

SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) not PHP-current wp.org #18 ↓6 3 too low 16

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17

Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #16 ↑4 1 too high 18

Zoho Flow – No-Code Workflow Automation 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑4 5 too high 19

SpinupWP 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #15 4 too high 20

Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21

Bit SMTP – Easy SMTP Solution with Email Logs 2K+ · 3.9★ (15) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22

Server Info – System Health & Diagnostics Suite 3K+ · 3.8★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓4 1 too high 23

SmartSMTP 2K+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #19 4 too high 24

Garden Gnome Package 4K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓3 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.